We had a bit of a barbecue to celebrate, and also to give Daniel the chance to take The Great Barbecue Behemoth on its maiden voyage. This is why I have dubbed it The Great Barbecue Behemoth:
You can use charcoal on the right-hand side and propane on the left-hand side. Which makes it a lot easier to have a bit of a barbie on a weeknight when you don't have the time or inclination to build up a bed of charcoal. We're thinking that if we put a motor on it, we could just drive it to assorted barbecue locations.
Daniel did the barbecuing, and The Behemoth had more than enough space to feed 29 people. He grilled citrus marinated chicken breasts, chicken pieces, and what he called Big Ugly Pork Steaks... one of which was enough to feed two or three people.
Here's how we set up the back yard, on what turned out to be an absolutely perfect day for a birthday barbecue:
It was all done buffet-style, except for the nibblies. I had dips, chips and salsa on the table, and our friend Starr ran the hot nibblies around to the guests. I made pumpkin and feta tarts, sun dried tomato and basil tarts, and mini beef empanadas.
By the time the sun went down (which is getting earlier and earlier), it looked like this:
We also had green bean and feta salad (I've picked about 12 kilos of beans this year... it was a very, very good season, apparently), Daniel's totally wonderful potato salad, and a vinegar coleslaw that is more or less marinated in the dressing.
Of course there was cake:
And Daniel being Daniel, it had to be chocolate with chocolate and some extra chocolate cake. I had planned, per the recipe, to make a ganache for the icing. And per the recipe, I got some fancy chocolate chips to make it super scrumptious. What a disaster that turned out to be! And mere hours before the party, too! It was salty, and all around bloody awful. Daniel said it tasted like Vegemite - which is fine if you're a jar of Vegemite, but totally unacceptable if you're supposed to be icing for a birthday cake. Fortunately, I had enough ingredients on hand to make a (chocolate) butter cream icing and it turned out very well. I went inside to get something, and when I got back the cake was gone!
I also made a pecan and honey slice, and some plain biscuits that I joined together with my (ahem) award-winning apricot conserve, and blueberry preserve.
Daniel had the idea to hang Chinese paper lanterns over the table, and we also got some mini ones that he hung along the garage. It was a really nice idea - simple, but very festive.
We rented all the plates, tables, chairs, etc. And it turned out to be a good idea, too. I just couldn't come at celebrating something as important as a fortieth with paper plates and plastic cutlery.
Things kicked off pretty early, so we were all done and pretty much cleaned up by about 11pm, which was nice.
Word has it that everyone enjoyed themselves, which is, after all, the point of a party. And it was really nice to have such an eclectic bunch of people share the celebration. It was a lot of work, but I think it was worth it (now that I've recovered). The only thing I would do differently next time is rope in more helpers and buy about two-thirds less wine and beer. I think we have enough leftovers to last us until Daniel turns 80!
I am totally enamoured of the whole eating outside at a long table with tablecloths and proper plates. I'd like to do it again before the winter pounces on us.
And, finally, here he is at the end of the party: Dan, Dan the Birthday Man:
Cheers!
